Hollywood Hills Residence, Los Angeles

renovation / merit

Griffin Enright Architects choreographed a series of simple moves that brought space, light, and architectural interest to this ordinary California home. The firm’s work “totally subsumed a rather banal house and made it extraordinary,” one judge observed.

Located on a steep hilltop overlooking Hollywood, the circa 1940s tract home had dark, chopped-up spaces and a poor indoor/outdoor connection, despite various renovations, says Margaret Griffin, AIA. She and partner John Enright, AIA, LEED AP, stripped the house, retaining reusable elements where possible; eliminated four walls on the ground floor; inserted a two-room addition; and pushed the staircase to the back. “The new location of the stair allowed us to seamlessly unify the five different levels of the house,” Griffin explains.

Large sliding and folding doors open up the house to the front courtyard, and two large street-facing window boxes bring light to the second-floor master suite. The high-contrast palette of dark- and light-colored materials offered a means of “playing with spatial volume,” she adds.